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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26416894">Happy Ending</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/xfadingstarx/pseuds/xfadingstarx'>xfadingstarx</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bleach</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, Feelings, Grief/Mourning, Sorry Not Sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:00:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>370</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26416894</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/xfadingstarx/pseuds/xfadingstarx</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end Orihime always knew...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ulquiorra Cifer/Inoue Orihime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Happy Ending</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is so angsty. Sorry not sorry. Grief must be felt. </p><p>My tumblr is xfadingstarx. Let's be friends</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He wasn’t there anymore. She knew it. She’d felt as the ashes from his decaying form scattered with the wind. It’d hurt for her to think about it. She could’ve stopped it. <em>Someway...somehow… </em></p><p> </p><p>It was hard for her to sleep properly anymore. She would always see him with his large sorrowful emerald eyes, extending a frail hand towards her. She would awaken just before their hands touched, every time. </p><p> </p><p>It was even harder for her to pretend to everyone at school that everything was alright. Tatsuki just wouldn't understand. Ichigo was fighting his own battle, Rukia and Rangiku were no longer around to confide in, and it seemed like everyone else was going their own separate ways. </p><p> </p><p>What was hardest of all though, was bearing the weight that Orihime felt in her own heart. It was all her fault. She had called for Ichigo to save her and instead he tore her heart apart. How could she tell Ichigo that that was not what she had wanted at all? She did not blame Ichigo for losing control, instead Orihime blamed herself for letting it all happen.</p><p> </p><p>She was the one who had begged to be saved, but why did it feel like she was drowning more than ever before? Everyday was filled with mundanity and emptiness. She wondered if this was the same kind of emptiness and loneliness he had felt. It made her remember that he’d existed. It forced her to not forget. </p><p> </p><p>It became harder to live alone than ever before. Subconsciously, she hoped with every corner she turned that he was there — only to have her heart drop when there was no one and she’d chide herself for believing too hard in children’s stories.  </p><p> </p><p>With him, sliences were comfortable and airy. There was mutual understanding. Sometimes she would talk about things that interested her. He would listen with that ever present calm fascination. Though he never spoke about himself, she found solace in their solitude. She had finally found acceptance and she had ruined it. </p><p> </p><p>“Of course,” Orihime muttered bitterly as she looked at the plain silver bracelet in her palm, “I know more than anyone else that things like happy endings just don’t suit me.”</p>
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